Blacksheep! Blacksheep!

Archibald Bennett has built his days around health worries, prescribed walks and useful errands for his sister. When she asks him to inspect a possible summer house at Bailey Harbor, he agrees to fit the visit around a planned trip to the Canadian Rockies. Meredith Nicholson opens this adventure novel with family conversation and social comedy, giving Archie both a comfortable place in society and a reason to wish for a more active life.

The Maine house belongs to the eccentric Congdon family, whose affairs become a source of anxiety for Archie. In a later passage, an encounter with Mrs. Congdon and her children in a park brings his troubling thoughts about Putney Congdon back to the surface. His uncertain knowledge and growing sense of responsibility turn an ordinary family errand into something far harder to leave behind. Readers will find an adventure shaped by nervous self-examination, uneasy loyalties and the pull of other people's troubles.